Ludicus nods and gives Vorgen a grim smile.
"Point, "lucky" might not have been the best word for it after all."
Ludicus then turns to the others.
"I am no expert on the sacred mysteries of the machine spirit, but can the gellar field be raised at ALL?
We may not need it to be raised completely, only enough that we can surround the bridge, then we can finish the work while it is temporarily weakened."
"People, is there a backup cogitator that we can use to activate the Gellar Field?"
"Magos, I believe this where you step back in?"
As the men speak, Regulorum's expression becomes more and more stony. He is visibly disturbed by their words and begins a rapidfire conversation with Pip in Techna-Lingua.
At the prompting of Silas, Regulorum nods and draws on his extensive knowledge of Gellar Fields - something every Enginseer had to study intently. He also tries to recall every recorded circumstance when a machine spirit has been purged or ways to repower the ship's cogitator.
Roll is for either Common Lore (Tech), Forbidden Lore (Archeotech) or Forbidden Lore (Adeptus Mechanicus)
= 2 degrees of success
"Captain Silas. The Will is likely monitoring the Bounty closely. If we can get access to a voidlock or a hull breach, even an external light or point defence turret would do, we can re-establish communication. A sustained macrocannon barrage targeting the bridge should solve the problem without causing too much further damage. Permission search and call fire?"
Hmmm, this is interesting; does our Lord-Captain Militant take the "easy" way out or go for the harder but possibly more rewarding path? I have not served with him long, and this will help me determine his character.
"Unfortunately Vorgen, that macrocannon attack is likely to render the vessel unsalvageable. But you get points for out of the box thinking."
"Unfortunately Vorgen, that macrocannon attack is likely to render the vessel un-salvageable. But you get points for out of the box thinking."
"With respect, I have faith in our gunners Lord-captain. With no void shields and no drives it will be harder to miss the ship than to hit the bridge. Besides the most valuable components are the drives and the hull itself. If we were to move the Will to point blank range, in a T position, we could use a small salvo to open up the bridge and then rake the area with concentrated point defense fire we could give that tainted navigator and his toy a personal, one way tour of the galaxy while doing minimal damage to the bridge.
I think it is a viable plan and can be pursued in parallel with the activation of the machine spirit."
Erart looks back at you. "My Lords, it can be done." He swallows hard, as if about to say something he knows he will regret. "I can show you to the core cogitator."
Trusting our crew of incompetents to perform a precise macro-cannon strike with us on board is sheer folly. Alessaunder said in contempt. It would also destroy the Halo Device, which although dangerous when exposed to Navigators, is itself a valuable prize. Far better to handle this situation ourselves.
Erart looks back at you. "My Lords, it can be done." He swallows hard, as if about to say something he knows he will regret. "I can show you to the core cogitator."
"Interesting. Are there security protocols we need to know about to access the cogitator, like a self-destruct?"
Erart looks back at Silas as if the idea had never crossed his mind. His eyes grow wide. "Non... none that I am aware of, my Lord."
"Alright, lead on then."
Silas turns to his merry band.
"Reload your weapons."
"Reloaded and ready lord Captain Militant, squad stands ready for your command."
Trusting our crew of incompetents to perform a precise macro-cannon strike with us on board is sheer folly. Alessaunder said in contempt. It would also destroy the Halo Device, which although dangerous when exposed to Navigators, is itself a valuable prize. Far better to handle this situation ourselves.
Vorgen smiles returning the contempt with scarcasm.
"Well I see you share the Captains low opinion of the crew that keeps you alive. I withdraw the suggestion. Afterall the profit from introducing a ship killing xeno-artifact onto an inhabited world must of course be our first consideration.
I am sure our geller field, maintained as it is by our fine crew of incompetents, will serve to keep the artifact dormant long enough for us to sell it to a rich cultist.
Oh, I'm sorry I mean collector.
Really the only danger would be from a warpstorm. We are quite lucky that such storms are unheard of in the Maw.
Alessaunder glared at Vorgen but decided he was making enough of a fool of himself without highlighting it further by drawing attention to his insubordination.
I await your call, Lord-Captain.
To reach the Core Cogitator, you pass though a substantial portion of the ship. The journey is harrowing—taking you past heavily damaged hull passages, debris-filled cargo holds, and leaking gravity pumps. Yet, after some time, you miraculously make it without any problems. You crawl out into a vast cylindrical chamber with energy feeds and fluid interchangers spiralling both up and down into the darkness. Suspended amid the chaos of tubes and wires is a collection of massive brass spheres surrounded by inactive servitors. You have reached the Core Cogitator.
"Magos, please examine the cogitator to ensure that it is in working order. As in all things with technology, your expertise is needed."
Bold words, but I always knew him to be bold, which is why I recommended him. As a friend, I should step in, but he would not thank me for it, it is his pride that makes him speak.
Turning to his remaining two crewmen he indicates the entry way.
"Same procedure as last time, cover the entryway with your guns at full auto, sing out if you see something, and if it is not one of ours and clearly hostile, gun it down."
"Any of you who know any proper words that would be soothing to a Machine Spirit would be wise to begin your prayers," the enginseer says.
Regulorum fidgets with various vials of oil and unguents. He removes parts, intoning and chanting all the while. He places the various mechanical pieces back into their places after rubbing the oils and praying over them. His movements seem rote, practiced and smooth. Clearly he has done this before.
After the proper rites have been completed, Regulorum begins the sequence to coax the cogitator to life.
= 55
Regulorum goes through the motions with a practised machine efficiency. After he finishes his chanting and intonations, evreything in the room ignites. Lights flash, and a bass hum fills the room. The machine spirit’s interface, the leathery head and torso of a servitor, addresses you, asking you to identify yourselves.
"This is Lord Captain, um, Spargan, commanding you to activate the Gellar field to expel the warp creature now on board this ship."
Acknowledged. Captain.
Time discrepancy detected. Explanation?
Acknowledged. Captain.
Time discrepancy detected. Explanation?
"Warp anomaly, hence, the warp creature. Raise the Gellar field to prevent further disruption."
Hoh! Smoothly done Lord-Captain Militant! The natural aura of command might have helped fool the machine spirit.
Threat acknowledged.
Raising Gellar Field.
With that, you all can feel the tell-tale signs of the Gellar Fields being raised. Your skin tingles, and all your hairs stand on end. Erart turns and looks at you, grinning from ear-to-ear.
"You've done it! Without its connection to the Warp, Orden is vulnerable."
"Magos, do you have an idea on how we can approach the bridge without being detected by this Orden and its minions? How about locking down certain corridors to ensure the least number of interference?"
Regulorum addresses the cogitator.
"Spirit, I am Magos Explorator and Enginseer Prime. The warp entity has taken the bridge. We must redirect all command capability to an outside location we can access. I also require you to upload the schematics of the Emperor's Bounty to this servo-skull." Regulorum gestures to Pip who approaches the cogitator with combi-tool extended but waits for the cogitator's acceptance before jacking into its interface.
Regulorum lowers his voice to micro-bead only on the officer channel.
"This should give us the answers to those very questions, Captain Spargan." A hint of amusement actually seems to be present in the Magos voice, but no, that can't be.
Silas raises an eyebrow in response to the magos' un-machinelike behavior.
"See if you can wrest control of the void lock the Father William is docked to Mr. Bast. It would be bad if Orden decided to leave the Bounty."
The servitor beeps and buzzes as it transfers schematics of the ship to the docked servo-skull, which should now serve as a remote for access to the ship's core cogitator.
"Do we have what we need? I for one am eager to see the end of that monstrosity, and large caliber explosive rounds has always been a good way to make sure something stays down."
Saying so, Ludicus hefts his drawn bolt pistol and racks the slide.
"Navis, plot the fastest course for the bridge with the least number of intersections. With back-up diversion paths in case of opposition.
Regulorum attempts to isolate the most efficient path to the bridge while also opening the path to the cutter. Pip beeps and buzzes.
"Well?" Silas asks.
"Erart, what can you say? is that the fast and easy way to the bridge?"
He asks our crew and then ask the crew of this ship? Is he...testing them? I must be on my toes, he may decide to test me as well.
"Fast and easy is predictable captain. Perhaps this fine crewman can get us close without making us too much of a target. After all this is his home."
"Aye, Lord-captain," the disheveled crewman says. "I can get you all quite close to the bridge and avoid the... the... others." Erart gulps and stammers out the last bit, but nevertheless begins to lead you back to the head of the ship.